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Ireland has ranked eight out of the 29 advanced economies for inclusiveness, according to a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

However the economic inclusion rate in Ireland has deteriorated.

The report, which took into account the last five years, found that the 29 advanced economies included in the study have on average flatlined in terms of inclusion, which is measured by median household income, poverty, and wealth and income inequality.

This is despite boosting their growth and development score by over 3pc.

The report has found that while advanced economies grew GDP by 5.3pc on average between 2012-2016, inclusion grew by only 0.01pc.

Norway was the world’s most inclusive economy, followed by Iceland and Luxembourg.

Australia was the only non-European economy in the top ten advanced economies for inclusiveness.

The picture for emerging economies is also worrying, the report found, with upper middle income economies growing by 7pc in 2012-2016, however inclusion in these economies grew by only 4.6pc, and actually saw a 2.1pc decrease in inter-generational equity.

Lithuania was the most inclusive emerging economy, followed by Hungary and Azerbaijan.

The four indicators that make up the index’s growth and development pillar are Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita; labour productivity; employment; and healthy life expectancy.